Can't Run Forever
by Merle's Sugartits
Summary: Scud/OC


**Author's Note: **This is a story that I published on mibba, and I know I said I wasn't going to publish any of them here, because it would take too long, but I was going through them and I realized I really like this one. I did make some slight changes to this, but nothing that effects the ending, however, you may read the original on mibba. My name on there is "LilaLove". I hope everyone enjoys this.

**Disclaimer:**I do not own any part of the Blade movies, or anything else that has to do with Blade, and my closest affiliation is that I follow Norman Reedus on Twitter (and he follows me. YAY ME!)

The streets were empty at two in the morning as Scud quickly drove back to the warehouse hideout. That's when it happened. From out of nowhere, a girl sprinted into the road in front of his van. He stomped on the breaks and listened as the tires screeched to a halt. It wasn't fast enough though, and there was a loud thud as the front of the van collided into the girl's small body. There was another thud as she fell over the hood of the van before sliding down into a crumpled heap on the road.

Scud blinked a couple of times as the realization of what happened sunk in. He looked around, the streets were still empty. He got out of the van and walked around to the front of the van where the girl was lying unconscious. Her dark hair covered her face, he knelt down and gently brushed it out of the way revealing a small amount of blood that was trickling out of a wound on her forehead. She was barefoot and wearing a short, pale pink dress with spaghetti straps. It was obvious she was running from someone, or something.

He didn't want to leave her there, so Scud scooped her up off the ground and carried her to the back of the van. He shifted her in his arms so that he could open the door. Even in her unconscious state, she was scared and searching for help. Her arms wrapped around him, clutching his jacket in her hands. He laid her down on the floor of the van, and pulled himself from her grip. Once he'd gotten her hands to release his jacket, she moved. Her dress shifted and he could see part of a tattoo on her inner thigh. He pushed her dress up slightly to reveal the entire mark. "Fuck!" he said out loud, realizing she was a vampire's familiar.

Scud ran a heavy hand down his face, trying to think. He didn't want to kill her, she needed help. "Just drop her off at the hospital, she can be someone else's problem," he whispered. He shrugged out of the large coat he wore and covered her with it before shutting the doors and getting back in the van.

It took her a moment to remember what had happened when she opened her eyes. Her eyes roamed the small room and she had the strange sensation of moving. She didn't know where she was, so she opened her mouth and screamed. Scud slammed on the breaks again from the sudden noise. When the van came to a stop, he took off his seatbelt and moved to the back. The girl was sitting against the wall of the van, her knees were drawn to her chest and her arms were wrapped tightly around them. There was fear in her eyes as she looked up at him, small whimpers escaping from her. She was afraid...of him.

As Scud moved closer to her, she pressed herself harder against the van He held his hands up, showing her his palms and gently said, "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." She just sat there, staring at him, the fear never leaving her. "Are you okay?"

She ignored his question and asked, "How do I know you're not one of them? How do I know they didn't send you after me?"

Despite that he already knew what 'they' she was talking about, he asked anyways, "Who are 'they'?"

She blinked a few times before saying, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. And if you work for them, you'll still pretend like you don't believe me, that way I don't run."

Scud rubbed his chin before taking a deep breath and asking, "Vampires?"

Her eyes grew wider at the mention of the word and she gave a quick nod. "Can...can you help me?"

"I was going to take you to the hospital, you hit your head pretty bad."

She shook her head vigorously, "You can't take me there. They have people there."

"I know you're a familiar, so why are you running from them."

"They want to kill me."

"I didn't think vampires killed their familiars unless...what did you do?"

"I...it..." the tears started welling in her eyes as she began stuttering and stumbling over her words. "I didn't mean to," she finally got out. "It was an accident...I..." the babbling started again. Tears poured down her cheeks and she pressed her hands to her face.

Scud took a deep breath and hoped he wouldn't regret what he was about to do. He moved across the van and took her in his arms. She resisted at first, smacking his hands and chest, trying to push him away from her. He didn't let go though. He pulled her small body against him, and held her close. He wrapped his arms around her, and let her sob into his shoulder. "It's okay," he cooed softly into her ear. "I know somebody who might be able to help you."

She pulled away and looked into his eyes, "Really?"

"Yeah, what's your name?"

"Nadia."

He smiled, "I'm Josh, but you can call me Scud. Everybody does." She smiled and he let go of her. As he moved back to the front of the van, he said, "If you're cold, you can wear that jacket."

When Scud finally got back to the warehouse, Blade was waiting for him. "Were they out of donuts?" Blade asked, smirking at his little joke about Scud being late.

Scud shook his head, "I did run into a little bit of trouble though," he said as he walked around to the back of the van.

"Trouble? Vampire trouble?"

Scud shook his head before reaching for the door handle, "More like familiar trouble."

"Did you kill him?"

"Her. And no." Scud opened the door and held out his hand. Nadia grabbed it and stepped out.

As soon as her eyes landed on Blade, they widened. "You're the daywalker."

"So you've heard of me." His eyes flicked from her to Scud. "Scud, can I talk to you over here?" He walked far enough away to where the girl wouldn't be within hearing range, but he'd still be able to keep an eye on her. Scud followed him. "What the hell were you thinking bringing her here?"

"She needs help."

"She can find it somewhere else."

"They want to kill her though."

"That's her problem. She should have thought about that before she chose to become a familiar."

Scud clasped his hands together, begging Blade, "Please B, can't we help her?"

"No."

Scud frowned, causing his forehead to wrinkle. "She needs us, please."

Blade sighed, "Fine, but she's your responsibility. And if this turns out to be a trap, it's your ass that's going to be answering for it."

Scud smiled, "Thanks, B."

Nadia slept in Scud's room for what was left of the night. He showed her to it, it seemed to be just as cluttered as the rest of the warehouse. "Where are you going to sleep?" she had asked.

"I have work that needs to be done. I'll sleep later."

"Thank you," she told him.

Scud fell asleep at his workbench that night, and if it wasn't for the smell of bacon, he would have slept there all day. He opened his eyes and stretched his arms out over his head. He got up and went in search for the bacon. He found Blade and Nadia sitting together another table, there were plates of food in front of them. "The smell of bacon wake you up?" Blade asked, noticing Scud.

Nadia turned on the stool that she sat on, a smile on her face and a fork in her hand. She was dressed in his clothes. "I hope you don't mind," she said, noticing that he was staring at the clothes. "I didn't have anything to wear."

He shook his head, "I don't mind." He walked over to the table and sat down next to her. Blade pushed a plate of food across the table to him, and Scud picked up his fork. "Who cooked?" he asked, stabbing a piece of scrambled egg with his fork.

"Nadia. I might keep her around just so that you'll have more than donuts in your system all the time."

She grinned and a slight blush colored her cheeks.

As they ate, Blade asked, "So, how did you become a vampire's familiar anyways?"

She put her fork down and took a sip of orange juice before looking back up at Blade. "It was when I was in college. It was Christmas break, and I was coming home for the holidays. I was planning to surprise my family, but when I got there," she paused and took a deep breath, "when I got there, I was the one with a surprise." She paused again as she blinked away the tears that were forming in her eyes. "There were vampires there. They had already killed my dad and my brother."

"Why didn't they kill you?" Blade asked when she paused again.

"One of them liked me, and he told me if I agreed to be his familiar, he'd let my mom live."

"So you agreed?"

Nadia gave a quick nod, and looked down at her lap. She tried to keep the tears from falling, but one escaped anyways.

"What did you do to make them want to kill you?"

A small smirk came to her face as she said, "I poisoned some of them. I...uh...contaminated some of their blood supply."

"That doesn't sound like an accident to me," Scud said.

Her smirk became a large grin, "It wasn't. I said that before I knew I could trust you."

As the day continued, Nadia sat and watched Scud work. There was something about him that prevented her from taking her eyes from him. She'd watch as he'd brush the hair back out of his eyes, tucking it under the bandana tied around his head. She'd watch the cigarette perched between his thin lips, the smoke curling up in front of his eyes as he worked. When he finally stopped working, he looked over at her, noticing her staring at the cigarette. He plucked it from his lips, and reached it out to her.

She shook her head, realizing she had been lost in her thoughts. A few minutes later she said, "Thank you. Really, I know it sounds odd, but if you hadn't of hit me, I'd probably be dead."

"I tried to stop before I hit you."

They both chuckled and she bit the inside of her bottom lip. In better light, Scud could see just how beautiful she was. The longest part of her unevenly cut hair reached down to the middle of her back and was various shades of brown, she had large, expressive gray eyes, and lightly tanned skin.

Without really thinking, she closed the distance between her and Scud. She reached up and put her arms around his neck, "Thank you," she whispered again before lightly brushing his lips with a kiss. His arms wrapped around her waist, his hands resting on her back.

**3 Months Later**

"So, do you like it?" Scud asked from the doorway behind Nadia. She was standing in front of a mirror, looking at her new hairstyle. She had cut it to her chin and dyed it blonde.

She nodded, "Yeah, it's so different though. I'm not quite used to it."

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her waist, the side of his face pressed against the top of her head, "It's a good different though. You look beautiful."

She smiled and he kissed the top of her head.

They walked into the main room, and Scud started strapping himself into his harness. "Be careful," he said to her as she picked up the keys to his van. It was the first time she was leaving the warehouse alone since Scud found her.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." She gave him a quick kiss before leaving.

After she finished her shopping, she stopped to get Scud's donuts. As she left the stop, she heard footsteps behind her. She ignored them and picked up the pace as she walked to the van. The parking lot was empty, and it made her nervous. The footsteps got closer and she spun around. She gasped, dropping the donuts as the word "Chupa" escaped her lips.

"Did you really think you wouldn't be found, Nadia?" he asked. "You had to know you couldn't run forever."

"I..." she lost her nerve as the fear took over her.

"I like the new hair," he said as he started closing the distance between them. "Blonde looks good on you."

She backed away from him until her back touched the van. "Please, you don't have to do this," she pleaded with him while searching behind her for the door handle.

"But I do. You need to be punished."

She jerked the door open, right as the large vampire lunged for her. She hit him with the door, causing him to stumble back. She jumped inside and pulled the door shut. She fumbled with the keys, trying to find the right one. She did and jammed it into the ignition.

Chupa grabbed the door and started to pull it open. She grabbed it and pulled it shut again, and slammed her hand down on the lock. She turned the key. The van didn't start. "C'mon, c'mon!" she pleaded with the vehicle, praying for it to start as she turned the key again. Chupa knocked the window out, and opened the door again. Nadia screamed as he grabbed her upper arm and pulled her out of the van.

She tried to fight him off, but it was pointless, he was bigger and stronger than her. "Please don't," she begged. Her voice cracked as the tears started streaming down her face. Her hands clutched his shoulders as he bit down into her neck. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the pain, but she still cried and whimpered as Chupa sucked the life out of her. In a matter of minutes, her body went limp. The whimpering stopped, and she released his shirt from her grip. Chupa let her fall to a crumpled heap on the ground. He wiped the blood from his mouth and left her there like a piece of trash.

When Blade pulled up to the warehouse, Scud was pacing back and forth outside. There was a cigarette between his fingers. Blade stopped the car and got out. "What's wrong?"

"Nadia. She's gone. She left hours ago, she should be back now. She's not back yet." His voice cracked numerous times as he spoke, trying to keep from crying. Before Nadia, Scud had never let anyone in like he did her. He'd had pointless flings, but none of it ever meant anything. Nadia meant everything.

"Get in. We'll find her."

Scud did as he was told, and they drove away from the warehouse. As he drove, he thought, _I knew this would happen. I knew something horrible would happen by letting her stay._

It didn't take long to find Scud's van in the empty parking lot. The front, left-side door was open, and the window had been busted out. "Isn't that your van?" Blade asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah."

Blade pulled into the parking lot, and rolled to a stop next to the van. Scud threw the door open and ran to the crumpled body on the ground. He fell to his knees and pulled Nadia into his arms, brushing the hair out of his face. Her head fell back against his arm. Blood soaked the shirt she wore from where it spilled down over her chest. "Nadia," he whispered, running his fingers over the two pin-like wholes that had pierced her skin. "Nadia," he whispered again, begging her to open her eyes.

"She's dead," Blade told him, as if it wasn't obvious enough. Scud hadn't even realized Blade had gotten out of the car, and now stood behind him.

Scud shook his head, refusing to believe him. "Isn't there something you can do?"

"No. It's too late."

"It can't be."

"It is. She's dead, Scud." Blade put his hand on Scud's shoulder, "Come on, we'll take her back and give her a proper burial."

Scud slowly stood up, pulling Nadia off the ground with him. Blade opened the back of the van for him before getting in his car. Scud laid Nadia down and ran his hand through her hair. He gently touched her cheek befor shrugging out of his jacket and covering her lifeless body. She was leaving his life the same way she had entered it. A single tear escaped and fell down his face and landed on her cheek. He wiped it away and bent down to kiss her forehead one last time before shutting the door. He brushed the shards of glass out of his seat and got in. He turned the key, it took a few times, but eventually the van started.

He rubbed his eyes, trying not to let anymore tears fall for the loss of the girl he had grown to love. Slowly, he pulled out of the parking lot, following Blade back to the warehouse.


End file.
